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Monday, June 20, 2011

Corporate control of the justice department reared its ugly head again today. The Supreme Court, once more, sided with large corporations, as it dismissed a massive class-action lawsuit that charged Wal-Mart with systemic gender discrimination. This ruling strengthens the divide-and-conquer strategy of the power elite by eliminating the possibility of citizens to collectively seek justice against the enormously powerful corporation. The individual's access to the justice system is even more limited now that a higher burden of proof is required before an employment discrimination class action can be certified.

“Those without means to hire an attorney or pursue a claim rely on class-action lawsuits to level the playing field and change the policies and practices of elite corporations. The court’s sharply divided ruling has made it more difficult for these individuals.” -- Wade Henderson of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights.

The U.S. might still rank as one of the top nations insofar as income and wealth go, but the distribution is so massively skewed in favor of the top 1%, it's the epitome of deceit. Exclude the wealthiest 1%, and let's see where we rank...most likely, at the very bottom. Thanks to the $upreme Court ruling, low-level hourly employees, of whom many live at the poverty level, without insurance, are now at the mercy of Wal-Mart and/or any of the large corporations who do not respect their employees.

Individual women can still sue Walmart. But their options and opportunities will be limited by their isolation and economic circumstance. As Walmart Watch notes: Walmart Associates live on poverty-level wages and often do not have access to benefits. Walmart’s average sales associate makes $8.81 per hour, according to IBISWorld, an independent market research group. This translates to annual pay of $15,576, based upon Walmart’s full-time status of thirty-four hours per week, well below the poverty line for a family of four. Additionally in 2010, Walmart’s health insurance covered only 54 percent of their associates while tens of thousands of associates qualify for Medicaid and other publicly subsidized care.”